Bonds To Speed Land Purchase District Wants Riverfront Acres For Restoration, Flood Control

June 13, 1985|By Mike Thomas of The Sentinel Staff

PALATKA — Regional water managers said Wednesday they plan to sell $80 million in bonds to help speed up purchase of more than 100,000 acres of land along the St. Johns River, mostly in Brevard and Indian River counties.

The bond sale by the St. Johns River Water Management District, scheduled for next month, also may allow the district to reduce property taxes, said spokesman Ed Albenesi.

The land is needed as part of a restoration and flood-control project for the river's headwaters. Officials hope to complete the land purchases within five years.

By extending the Save Our Rivers program this year, the Legislature gave Florida's five water management districts a guaranteed source of income to pay off bonds. The program allocates taxes on land sales for the districts to buy wetlands.

The Legislature also voted to let the St. Johns district increase the maximum property tax it can levy from 35 cents per $1,000 assessed value to 60 cents. But district officials believe the bond sale will enable them to reduce the tax rate in parts or all of 19 counties.

''If the bottom falls out of the bond market by next month, we still have the millage to raise money,'' Albenesi said.

The district already owns about 104,000 acres along the St. Johns and needs about another 115,900 acres, said district planner Bruce Parker. The land targeted for purchase extends from Florida's Turnpike in Indian River County to State Road 46 in Seminole and Volusia counties.

As part of the river restoration project, the district governing board voted Wednesday to seek funds to plug canals dug through river marshes in south Brevard County. The canals have caused pollution, drained wetlands and contributed to large fish kills.

The canals were dug beginning in the early 1900s to obtain dirt for dikes needed to protect muck farms. In this section of the St. Johns, there is no natural river channel, just a wide expanse of marsh similar to that in the Everglades.

Biologists of the Florida Game and Fresh Water Fish Commission have complained about the canals for years because of the fish kills that usually follow the pumping of wastewater from farmland.

The canals also quickly divert polluted water to Lake Washington, south Brevard's major source of drinking water, said district biologist Jerry Brooks.

By plugging the canals, more water will be stored in the wetlands, boosting water levels in Lake Washington during dry winter months, Brooks said. Work should begin in December, he said.

The only bad side effect is that fishermen no longer would have access to the river south of the Palm Bay area without an airboat, Brooks said.

The state has agreed to give $200,000 for the plugging and the district will ask for another $450,000. Farmers have agreed to provide dirt for the plugs, which will save the district about $900,000, Brooks said.

In other action, the district:

-- Extended a water shortage warning to Duval County, areas east of Interstate 95 in St. Johns and Flagler counties, and sections of Clay, Baker, Alachua and Marion counties that fall within district boundries.

The warning was issued in Volusia, Brevard and Indian River counties in April. It was lifted in Brevard and Indian River last month.

Residents are asked to voluntarily conserve water and not water their lawns between 9 a.m. and 7 p.m.

Groundwater in some of these areas is lower than during the disastrous 1980-81 drought, said district hydrologist Doug Munch. If rainfall does not pick up, the district may impose mandatory restrictions, he said.

Rainfall in the district has averaged about 10 inches below average for the past six months.

-- Gave conceptual approval to the Hammock Dunes project in Flagler County, which is being planned by International Telephone and Telegraph as part of its Palm Coast development.

The 2,258-acre development is proposed for a 5-mile strip of beach north of Flagler Beach. It would include 6,670 dwelling units and 11 buildings up to 20 stories on the ocean.

Flagler resident Jerry Schatz opposed the water management permit, saying that ITT will pump treated sewage on a golf course, which would pollute the aquifer he uses for drinking water. Schatz said he doesn't want to use water pumped to the island by ITT to service the development.

''Animals don't defecate in their own nests but that is what these people are doing,'' Schatz said.

District officials, however, said the development was of high quality and environmentally sound.

-- Agreed to continue an unofficial moratorium on allowing new fern- growing operations to use groundwater for freeze protection. During the freeze last winter, growers in the Pierson area of Volusia County pumped so much water from the aquifer that neighboring residential and commercial wells went dry, some for several days.

District officials also said that during the next few years, growers who use groundwater must start planning to use other methods for freeze control.

Farmers use the water to form a protective shield of ice around the plants. -- Told its staff to go ahead with a suit against Lake Pickett Limited, a partnership developing Pickett Downs south of Oviedo in Seminole County. The suit seeks an injunction to stop construction and $87,000 in fines against the developer for building without required district permits.